


Haunted

by Griddlebone



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-11
Updated: 2011-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-17 23:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What haunts her is no nightmare...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the "strangely familiar" prompt at the LiveJournal community iyfic_contest. This is a quasi-songfic; the lines of spoken dialogue are respectfully borrowed from the song "Say My Name" by Within Temptation.

Late in the night, Sango sits alone and stares into the fire. Everything is quiet. Her companions are spread out around her, asleep, dreaming their dark unsettled dreams; she wishes it is only the threat of nightmares that keeps her awake. But what haunts her is no nightmare, it is all too real.

Her dead brother lives.

But it is not a life of his choosing, and it is not a natural existence. He is Naraku's creature now, possessed and ensorcelled, no more than a puppet. If the magical shard is removed from its hiding place in his flesh, or if it is merely Naraku's whim, then he will cease to be. It is too much to hope that when he looks in her eyes he should see more than an almost familiar face, that he should see _her_.

She boldly tells her friends that he is only a shadow, that this _thing_ is not her brother. It's a lie. When she looks at him, she does not see the damage he has caused or the lives he has taken, she sees Kohaku. Where she longs to see a villain, she cannot help but see her baby brother.

She has tried - and failed - to save him. She has nearly lost her friends, and herself, for his sake. How many times? She can no longer remember. Too many. And whenever she comes close to victory, Naraku speaks and the puppet disappears.

She knows that one day Kohaku will be irretrievably lost; she can feel it in her heart. She can no more come up with a solution than she can stop trying to do so. The worrisome thought is with her day and night, and more nights than not it keeps her from sleeping. This night is no different.

Except...

A chill shivers up her spine, and she knows: she is not alone after all.

Her companions do not stir. Kirara remains still. Even Inuyasha's keen senses are dulled by sleep tonight. Sango rises and creeps into the darkness, knowing what awaits her there.

Just beyond the fire's light, she finds Kohaku.

He stands motionless in the dark, a silent specter among the trees. She cannot take her eyes off him even as the shadows writhe menacingly at the edges of her vision.

His name escapes her lips, a whispered prayer that this time he has escaped, that he knows himself, that he is free. She thinks that perhaps he has turned, ever so slightly, at the sound of her voice, but she is deluding herself. He has made no response.

She dares to come closer; she is not a woman who can afford to be patient. If he still does not know her, then she will throw caution to the wind and do whatever it takes to restore his memory, even if it puts her own life at risk. And she will keep doing it again and again and again, for as long as she has to.

"Please say my name," she begs. Kohaku stares past her with wide, empty eyes.

His lips do not move; she hears a whispered question. "Do I know you?"

The shadows are thick and cold around them, the campfire's brilliant warmth only a distant memory. She is close enough now to take him by the shoulders and shake him gently, as if to physically jog his memory. "Remember who I am," she pleads. _I'm your sister!_

But those empty eyes don't see her.

She clutches at him, but her mortal desires are no match for whatever magic is snatching him away. A heartbeat later it is too late. She is holding empty air: he is gone.

Sango realizes with a start that she was sleeping, it was only a dream; Kohaku was never here. It is Miroku and Kagome, not her wayward brother, who stand before her in the new day's light, and their faces are lined with worry as surely as hers is streaked with tears.


End file.
